Media Molehttp://www.newstatesman.com/media-mole
enhttp://www.newstatesman.com/media-mole/2015/07/whats-wrong-you-labour-mp-asks-kay-burley-when-grilled-about-nominating-jeremy
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>"But do you want him to win?"</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Tensions are escalating as those Labour MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbyn to "broaden the debate" are being wheeled out for a grilling.</p>
<p>Here's Dawn Butler, Labour MP for Brent Central, being asked the same question – "<span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">do you want him to win?" (answer: no) –</span> over and over again by Sky News' Kay Burley until she exclaims, "What's wrong with you?", inducing a rare moment of discombobulation in the usually hard-as-nails presenter.</p>
<p>Watch it here:</p>
<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2fp_GoKhRT0" width="510"></iframe></p>
<p> </p>
</div></div></div>Thu, 23 Jul 2015 10:43:20 +0000Media Mole228718 at http://www.newstatesman.comhttp://www.newstatesman.com/media-mole/2015/07/watch-outgoing-fifa-boss-sepp-blatter-has-money-thrown-him-protest
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>Sepp Blatter gets ambushed with a cloud of cash during a press conference prank.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HnE5LTtTAfo" width="510"></iframe></p>
<p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33591332">Comedian Lee Nelson</a> threw a pile of banknotes at Sepp Blatter, interrupting the soon to be ex-Fifa president's press conference.</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 20 Jul 2015 13:48:24 +0000Media Mole228654 at http://www.newstatesman.comhttp://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/07/boris-johnson-trousers-25000-pay-rise-telegraph
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>London's part-time mayor has been handed a £25,000 pay rise by the <em>Telegraph</em>. Your mole weeps. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-node-image field-type-image field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><figure class="clearfix field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-fullnode-image" src="http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/fullnode_image/public/blogs_2015/07/479029266.jpg?itok=V6hgsWCj" width="510" height="348" alt="Boris Johnson heads to a meeting of the Cabinet. Photo: Getty Images" title="Boris Johnson heads to a meeting of the Cabinet. Photo: Getty Images" /></figure></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-nodeimage-title field-type-text field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Seriously? Photo: Getty Images</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Boris Johnson has netted a £25,000 payrise since 2009, taking his earnings at the <em>Telegraph </em>to £275,000 from £250,000.</p>
<p>The £25,000 payrise - or, as we call it here at Mole Towers, "an entire salary" - comes on top top of his day job as Mayor of London, from which he trousers a mere £140,000, and the meagre £74,000 he gets as MP for Ruislip &amp; Uxbridge. </p>
<p>And what exactly is the <em>Telegraph </em>getting for all that money? BoJo - whose constituents really must be wondering at this point what, exactly, they are getting for their money - has recently suggested that the way forward for Greece is to recover the spirit of the original Olympians, and has today come to the defence of Her Maj's Nazi salute.</p>
<p>Nice work if you can get it.</p>
<p>(The mole is grateful to the<a href="https://twitter.com/joncstone/status/623072533689028608"> keen eyes</a> of the <em>Indy</em>'s <a href="https://twitter.com/joncstone">Jon Stone</a>.) </p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 20 Jul 2015 10:47:21 +0000Media Mole228651 at http://www.newstatesman.comhttp://www.newstatesman.com/media-mole/2015/07/evening-standard-plays-matchmaker-nicky-morgan
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>A sub at the Standard has given David Gauke MP a new wife - and a new name. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-node-image field-type-image field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><figure class="clearfix field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-fullnode-image" src="http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/fullnode_image/public/blogs_2015/07/456393890.jpg?itok=wmXZD_C2" width="510" height="348" alt="Nicky Morgan addresses Tory party conference. Photo: Getty Images" title="Nicky Morgan addresses Tory party conference. Photo: Getty Images" /></figure></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-nodeimage-title field-type-text field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">You should be so lucky. Photo: Getty Images</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Your mole always gets a cold sweat when writing up captions. In the mole's first job at the <em>Riverbank Crier</em>, a photo was once run of a couple of otters in a story about rabbits. </p>
<p>So the mole can only sympathise with those hard-pressed subs over at the <em>Evening Standard</em>, who have mistaken David Gauke, a treasury minister, with Nicky Morgan's husband.</p>
<p><img alt="" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__78078 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" height="480" src="http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/untitled_8.png?itok=xW5qA5Dy" typeof="foaf:Image" width="386" /></p>
<p>You should be so lucky, Gauke-y. </p>
</div></div></div>Tue, 14 Jul 2015 16:58:46 +0000Media Mole228574 at http://www.newstatesman.comhttp://www.newstatesman.com/media-mole/2015/07/watch-snp-mp-mhairi-blacks-killer-anti-austerity-maiden-speech-house-commons
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>“I am the only 20-year-old in the UK that the Chancellor is prepared to help with housing.”</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-nodeimage-title field-type-text field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Mhairi Black makes her maiden speech in the Commons. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Mhairi Black has had a busy first ten weeks in parliament since the general election, as well as graduating with a First Class degree in Politics from Glasgow University.</p>
<p>The 20-year-old's first speech in the Commons shows that her young age places no limits on her ability to deliver a killer line, as she told the House: "I am ... the only 2o-year-old in the whole of the UK that the Chancellor is prepared to help with housing."</p>
<p style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">Watch it here:</p>
<p style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lZAmhB55_-k" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Her speech covered benefit cuts ("<span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">When the Chancellor spoke in his budget about fixing the roof while the sun is shining, I would have to ask, on who is the sun shining?") </span>to the proliferation of food banks in her constituency ("<span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">Food banks are not part of the welfare state, they are a symbol that the welfare state is failing")</span>, Black laid into George Osborne's latest budget.</p>
<p>She also pointed out the hypocrisy of Osborne's views on housing benefits for young people:</p>
<blockquote><p style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">Now the government, quite rightly, pays for me - through taxpayer's money - to be able live in London whilst I serve my constituents. My housing is subsidised by the taxpayer. Now the Chancellor in his budget said, "It is not fair that families earning over £40,000 in London should have their rents paid for by other working people." But it is ok so long as you're an MP? In this budget the Chancellor also abolished any housing benefit for anyone below the age of 21. So we are now in the ridiculous situtation whereby, because I am an MP, not only am I the youngest, but I am also the only 2o-year-old in the whole of the UK that the Chancellor is prepared to help with housing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">She added: "We now have one of the most uncaring, uncompromising and out-of-touch governments that the UK has seen since Thatcher." </span></p>
</div></div></div>Tue, 14 Jul 2015 16:02:48 +0000Media Mole228571 at http://www.newstatesman.comhttp://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2015/07/blogger-has-cut-down-hollywood-films-include-only-lines-spoken-non-white-characters
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>They're not very long. </p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-node-image field-type-image field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><figure class="clearfix field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-fullnode-image" src="http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/fullnode_image/public/blogs_2015/07/her.png?itok=8jSx5sNB" width="510" height="348" alt="" /></figure></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-nodeimage-title field-type-text field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Every line spoken by a non-white character in Spike Jonze's film Her adds up to only 40 seconds. Photo: Warner Bros. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>Hollywood's lack of diversity in terms of both gender and race is nothing new. But if you had to guess how many minutes in, say, terrible Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughan vehicle <em>Wedding Crashers</em> featured a person of colour, what would you say?</p>
<p>Luckily, someone on Tumblr has already done the work for you. <a href="http://everysinglewordspoken.tumblr.com/?og=1?mod=e2this&amp;utm_source=This+nightly&amp;utm_campaign=5f0692e409-8pm_7_9_20157_9_2015&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_4b29b52ce6-5f0692e409-248172309">Dylan Marron</a>, creator of the "Every Single Word" project, has edited down Hollywood films to include only the lines spoken by non-white actors. And it turns out the results aren't a matter of minutes, but of seconds: <em>Wedding Crashers </em>clocks in at 32 seconds (if you exclude Morran's intro and titles): </p>
<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uFipVyjq99I" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>The shortest clip Marron has made so far is for <em>Into The Woods</em>, which contains no non-white lines at all:</p>
<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/7bDHh4lqNoQ" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>It's not just their brevity that makes these clips so depressing - those lines that do appear are a parade of racial stereotypes and bit parts.</p>
<p>Cult film <em>Frances Ha</em> contains a grand total of three non-white lines: </p>
<p><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SOHaJizzjdg" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p>Morran also creates a credit sequence for his clips. <em>Frances Ha'</em>s makes for particularly uncomfortable reading, as the non-white characters aren't even named (the fourth character, "Home Friend", has no audible lines as he appears in a group scene): </p>
<p class="rtecenter"><img alt="" class="media-image attr__typeof__foaf:Image img__fid__77981 img__view_mode__media_large attr__format__media_large" height="219" src="http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/credit.png?itok=oMWWBBnI" typeof="foaf:Image" width="480" /></p>
<p style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;"> </p>
<p style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">And here's "physical therapist", the single non-white character in <em>Black Swan: </em></p>
<p style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JDY3_1rNuxY" width="560"></iframe></p>
<p style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">What a time to be alive. </p>
</div></div></div>Fri, 10 Jul 2015 10:42:00 +0000Media Mole228531 at http://www.newstatesman.comhttp://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2015/07/johnny-marr-calls-conservative-northern-powerhouse-thick-and-patronising
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>The Smiths guitarist and perennial Tory-botherer has tweeted his disapproval.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-node-image field-type-image field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><figure class="clearfix field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-fullnode-image" src="http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/fullnode_image/public/blogs_2015/07/gettyimages-492889931.jpg?itok=MMb3-gPX" width="510" height="348" alt="Marr has called the so-called Northern Powerhouse &quot;thick&quot; and &quot;patronising&quot;. Photo: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty" title="Marr has called the so-called Northern Powerhouse &quot;thick&quot; and &quot;patronising&quot;. Photo: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty" /></figure></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-nodeimage-title field-type-text field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Marr has called the so-called Northern Powerhouse "thick" and "patronising". Photo: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>It's the moment we've all been waiting for: Johnny Marr has given his thoughts on the so-called "Northern Powerhouse" and - surprise - he's not a fan.</p>
<p>The Mancunian guitarist asked if Cameron and Osborne "actually think that people in the north are ok with the term" and accused it of being "patronising and thick".</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Do Cameron &amp; Osborne actually think that people in the north are ok with the term "Northern Powerhouse ?". Patronising and thick or what ?</p>
<p>— Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) <a href="https://twitter.com/Johnny_Marr/status/618753668469424128">July 8, 2015</a></p></blockquote>
<script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">The remark follows a previous attempt to ban David Cameron from liking The Smiths:</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en" style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;" xml:lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">David Cameron, stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don't. I forbid you to like it.</p>
<p>— Johnny Marr (@Johnny_Marr) <a href="https://twitter.com/Johnny_Marr/status/10237162679177216">December 2, 2010</a></p></blockquote>
<p><span style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">The <em>Newstatesman.com's </em>in-house token Northerner has voiced general support for Marr, although notes that the term is quite good for mocking one's partner next time he attempts DIY.</span></p>
</div></div></div>Thu, 09 Jul 2015 16:30:22 +0000Media Mole228523 at http://www.newstatesman.comhttp://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/07/whats-iain-duncan-smith-visibly-excited-prospect-hurting-poor
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>The work and pensions secretary cheered on the new "living" wage, which turns out to be nothing of the sort.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-node-image field-type-image field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><figure class="clearfix field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-fullnode-image" src="http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/fullnode_image/public/blogs_2015/07/gettyimages-479029264.jpg?itok=oM10BQgu" width="510" height="348" alt="Iain Duncan Smith, in classier times. Photo: Rob Stothard/Getty Images" title="Iain Duncan Smith, in classier times. Photo: Rob Stothard/Getty Images" /></figure></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-nodeimage-title field-type-text field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Iain Duncan Smith, in classier times. Photo: Rob Stothard/Getty Images</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>What was the most galling part of the budget?</p>
<p>Cutting housing benefit for 18-21 year olds? Turning the university maintenance grant into a loan? Tax credit cuts that make sure children are suitably punished if their parents have large, low-income families? The complete absence of any climate change or green issues? </p>
<p>All good contenders, but this mole reckons this is the clear winner:</p>
<p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/cjzqhj-umaac-ji.jpg" style="width: 510px; height: 287px;" /></p>
<p>That's right - it's Iain Duncan Smith, cheering as George Osborne introduces what was disingenuously termed a "living" wage despite being<a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/07/budget-2015-george-osborne-steals-ed-milibands-clothes-body-still-tory"> quite clearly nothing of the sort</a>. Oh, and by the way, you won't get it if you're under 25. If you're under 25, your parents should be able to sort you out.</p>
<p>Some might suggest it's a bit gauche to act like you're in a football terrace as your party introduces a series of measures which bring suffering to vulnerable young people, but let us all take comfort. While working class teenagers - and disabled people, and low-income workers - across the country sit wondering how they're going to deal with this, at least one Conservative politician is very, very happy.</p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 08 Jul 2015 16:07:23 +0000Media Mole228498 at http://www.newstatesman.comhttp://www.newstatesman.com/media-mole/2015/07/annual-sausagefest-pictorial-history-women-allowed-treasury-team
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>Making cuts.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>David Cameron is passionate about women's equality. Really. Here's <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2280461/I-dont-women-cabinet-David-Cameron-admits-wife-lobbying-promote-more.html">what he said </a>in 2013, before <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/jul/11/david-cameron-promote-women-young-men-cabinet-reshuffle">promoting a number of women</a> to top jobs in his government the following year:</p>
<blockquote><p>Companies, political parties and other organisations need to actively go out and encourage women to join in, to sign up, to take the course, to become part of the endeavour . . . Just opening up and saying 'You're welcome to try if you want to' doesn't get over the fact that there have been all sorts of barriers in the way . . . so we need to do more.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And hasn't he done well? To celebrate this special emergency Budget day, here's the bold progress the Tories have made on appointments of women to the Treasury, as told by images of Budget day since they came to power in 2010:</p>
<h1>Emergency Budget, 2010</h1>
<p><a href="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/budget_day_2010.jpg" target="_self"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/budget_day_2010.jpg" style="width: 510px; height: 340px;" /></a></p>
<p class="rteright"><em>Photo: Getty</em></p>
<p>Give us a break, we've only just been elected AND we had to make room for a Lib Dem - and we all know they hate promoting women.</p>
<h1>Budget, 2011</h1>
<p><a href="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/gettyimages-110681795.jpg" target="_self"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/gettyimages-110681795.jpg" style="width: 510px; height: 287px;" /></a></p>
<p class="rteright"><em style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; text-align: right;">Photo: Getty</em></p>
<p>There's a financial crisis on, we haven't had time.</p>
<h1>Budget, 2012</h1>
<p style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;"><a href="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/budget_day_2011.jpg" target="_self"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/budget_day_2011.jpg" style="width: 510px; height: 347px;" /></a></p>
<p class="rteright" style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;"><em style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; text-align: right;">Photo: Getty</em></p>
<p style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px;">She's both a woman AND young. #diverse.</p>
<h1>Budget, 2013</h1>
<p><a href="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/gettyimages-164128901.jpg" target="_self"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/gettyimages-164128901.jpg" style="width: 510px;" /></a></p>
<p class="rteright"><em style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; text-align: right;">Photo: Getty</em></p>
<p>It's one-in, one-out at the moment, sorry ladies.</p>
<h1>Budget, 2014</h1>
<p><a href="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/gettyimages-479507157.jpg" target="_self"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/gettyimages-479507157.jpg" style="width: 510px;" /></a></p>
<p class="rteright"><em style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; text-align: right;">Photo: Getty</em></p>
<p>See, progress. We've DOUBLED the number of women in the Treasury team.</p>
<h1>Budget, 2015</h1>
<p><a href="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/gettyimages-466686502_1_.jpg" target="_self"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/gettyimages-466686502_1_.jpg" style="width: 510px; height: 340px;" /></a></p>
<p class="rteright"><em style="font-size: 14.6666669845581px; text-align: right;">Photo: Getty</em></p>
<p>Yep, still on two...</p>
<h1>Emergency Budget, 2015</h1>
<p><a href="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/cjymbaiwiaavfq9.jpg" target="_self"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/body_image2015/cjymbaiwiaavfq9.jpg" style="width: 510px; height: 283px;" /></a></p>
<p class="rteright"><em>Photo: Twitter/<a href="https://twitter.com/MissEllieMae">@MissEllieMae</a></em></p>
<p>Look, it's an emergency, ok?</p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 08 Jul 2015 11:00:34 +0000Media Mole228488 at http://www.newstatesman.comhttp://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/07/budget-confidence-knocked-rumour-chancellor-doesnt-understand-pens
<div class="field field-name-field-subheadline field-type-text-long field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"> <p>Either George Osborne can't figure out the difference between pens and printers - or his handwriting is far, far tidier than ours.</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-node-image field-type-image field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><figure class="clearfix field-item even"><img typeof="foaf:Image" class="image-style-fullnode-image" src="http://www.newstatesman.com/sites/default/files/styles/fullnode_image/public/blogs_2015/07/gettyimages-477684570.jpg?itok=LT7sRCzC" width="510" height="348" alt="George Osborne, at the EU council headquarters where pens are used regularly. Photo: Thierry Monasse/AFP/Getty Images" title="George Osborne, at the EU council headquarters where pens are used regularly. Photo: Thierry Monasse/AFP/Getty Images" /></figure></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-nodeimage-title field-type-text field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">George Osborne, at the EU council headquarters where pens are used regularly. Photo: Thierry Monasse/AFP/Getty Images</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden view-mode-fulltext"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"> <p>With all the discussion of <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/07/cutting-inheritance-tax-will-be-good-news-privileged-few-bad-news-rest">inheritence tax</a> and <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2015/07/end-sunday-trading-will-spell-misery-shopworkers">Sunday trading</a>, it's easy to miss the real story of this budget: George Osborne appears not to understand pens.</p>
<p>A photo posted this morning from the Chancellor's own twitter account shows Osborne putting the finishing touches by hand - to a clearly printed document.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en" xml:lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="en" xml:lang="en">Today I will present a Conservative Budget - a Budget that puts economic security first <a href="http://t.co/yQ8kD8nmo9">pic.twitter.com/yQ8kD8nmo9</a></p>
<p>— George Osborne (@George_Osborne) <a href="https://twitter.com/George_Osborne/status/618711344406249472">July 8, 2015</a></p></blockquote>
<script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script><p>This mole is worried. Has Osborne not been briefed on twentieth century technology? Does he not realise how pens work? Or, more worringly, are the budget cuts so bad they're now making him personally inscribe the front cover of the budget, with the pinpoint accuracy of a laser printer?</p>
<p>Mysterious business all around. Any leads are much appreciated.</p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 08 Jul 2015 09:53:42 +0000Media Mole228471 at http://www.newstatesman.com